De Partizanen, by Jules Radilovic

Jules or Julio, Radilovic, who uses the pseudonym Jules, was born in the Slovenian city of Maribor, but has lived in Zagreb since 1939.  He began his career in 1952, making the comic 'Neznanac' for Horizontov Zabavnik. A couple of years later, he began working for the German market, where he teamed up with writer Zvonimir Furtiner to make a series about inventions and discoveries ('Izumi i Otkrica') for Kunterbunt, a publication by Rolf Kauka. Jules and Furtiner also created the historical comic 'Kroz Minula Stoljeca', that ran in the Yugoslavian magazine Plavi Vjesnik until 1959.

Herlock Sholmes, by Jules

In the early 1960s, Jules illustrated four episodes of 'Kapetan Lesi', a series based on a Yugoslav movie about an Albanian war hero. In 1962, he adapted the Edgar Wallace novel 'Sanders of Africa' to comics, again in cooperation with Furtinger. The Radilovic-Furtinger tandem also started the detective parody 'Herlock Sholmes', that ran successfully in magazines like Plavi Vjaesnik until 1972.

Herlock Sholmes by Julio Radilovic
'Herlock Sholmes'.

Radilovic joined the Strip Features Syndicate through which he worked on series like 'Baca Izvidjac', 'Africke Pustolovine' and 'Jaimee McPheeters', published in magazines like Plavi Vjesnik and Studio (scripts by Furtinger or Norbert Neugebauer). During this period, he also illustrated a great number of book covers and advertisements.

De Partizanen by Julio Radilovic
'Partizani'.

In 1977, Radilovic started the World War II series 'Partizani' ('The Partisans') with scriptwriter Dordge Lebovic for the Dutch magazine Eppo. It ran there under the title 'De Partizanen'. The editors of Eppo wanted a war-themed adventure comic, though with an emphasis on action scenes. Through André Franquin they were brought in contact with Radilovic. Radilovic gave them a 22 page short story about Yugoslavian resistance forces during World War II, famously nicknamed "the Partizans". While the style was perfect, Eppo's editors wanted a professional scriptwriter. Through Radilovic' agent they got into touch with TV and scriptwriter Dorde Lebovic. He rewrote the original story and replaced the action from the year 1942 to 1944. Interestingly enough, Radilovic and Lebovic never met in person. All their collaboration on the comic was done by mail. 'Partizani', AKA 'De Partizanen', ran in Eppo from 1977 until 1988, by which time the magazine had already changed its name to Sjors en Sjimmie Weekblad. Radilovic and Lebovic made two long stories and ten shorter ones, until the final episode appeared in 1989. 

Radilovic was the president of the union of Yugoslav comic artists and was awarded for his achievements in the field with the Danica, the highest Croatian decoration.

comic art by Jules Radilovic, 1962
'Afričke pustolovine' (African Adventures, 1963).

Series and books by Julio Radilovic you can order today:

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